THE ROLLING STONE INTERVIEW: DIVINE

INDIA’S BIGGEST HIP-HOPPER’S RISE FROM AN ARTIST TO AN ENTREPRENEUR IS A STORY OF AUDACITY, HOPE AND HARD WORK

- NIRMIKA SINGH

As music journalists in India, we are just not used to telling stories of incredible successes; we are more than grateful when some of our favorite acts finally release a well-produced EP or make an average effort to curate an audience online. If they amass millions of fans or chase their dream armed with a publicist, a stylist, a digital agency and a sponsor, we are quick to dismiss them as sellouts. God forbid if they start playing stadium-level shows or herald a pop-culture revolution – in that case we often love to write their music off as too mass-y or mainstream. Perhaps, we the critics haven’t trained ourselves to witness greatness.

And then comes along an artist like VivianFernandes, better known as DIVINE, who can do without a real introduction really. To call him an overnight success, which neo enthusiasts of hip-hop often label him, is a humongous disservice to the Mumbai rapper’s arduous path to excellence in the past decade. There’s the unmistakable bravado – on the opening track of his new album Punya Paap, he sings “jwala laya main game mein/dollar laya main game mein (I started the fire/I brought home the dollars)” – but stripped of his on-stage on in-studio armor, you’d rarely find him celebrating his laurels. “It’s not just me -- it’s the whole movement that’s making noise,” says the 30-year-old rapper.